Art Central 2023 saw a dazzling reinterpretation of traditional Chinese aesthetics through the creation of a three-dimensional contemporary shanshui sculpture from copper wires and natural waste wood.

As the Lead Partner of Art Central, UOB presented Interwoven: Wired Shanshui – a large-scale interactive ink art installation by Hong Kong contemporary Chinese ink artist Margaret Yeung for the first time at the UOB Art Space. The installation, commissioned by UOB, comprises recycled copper wires and natural waste wood discarded from storms. It transforms the conventional viewing experience of a two-dimensional landscape painting into a three-dimensional contemporary shanshui.

Having spent months collecting her raw materials, the artist dedicated hours upon hours to delicately twist and bend the oxidised copper wires, exuding the same effect as painting lines with a brush dipped in Chinese ink. The upcycling of wood, remnants of typhoons past, resemble hills and mountains from a distance, as if drawn from a classical shanshui literati painting. The myriad colours of the copper wires are a result of variations in oxidation and humidity, emblematic of the wonderful landscapes of the four seasons.

Amazing effect of copper wire
Margaret Yeung has a passion for sustainability and encompasses her ethos into her artwork. Her studio is based in an industrial area in Fotan and she became sad to see so much waste discarded, including copper wires.

Sha says, “So I collect this copper wire and take the copper wire outside and then I twist them into trees. When I twist them, I find ‘oh my God’ I am just doing something that traditional Chinese painters do. They paint trees with brush and ink. But I create trees with my copper wire. Just like an old Chinese painter drawing a tree.”

“Another point is that copper wire when it is oxidized it will turn from a golden colour to dark brown, or to black. So, it is a very amazing effect”

She is a devotee of traditional Chinese landscape painting and wants to pass this rich cultural legacy through the generations and this reinterpretation of traditional Chinese aesthetics is one of her ways of doing so.

Yeung reinterprets traditional Chinese landscape painting by embracing contemporary materials and technology of our times. Copper wires and Chinese painting are two seemingly disparate elements. By interweaving them the artist seeks to deliver ‘hybridity’, a peaceful coexistence of the natural and the man-made, of the traditional and the contemporary. The contrasting materials are interwoven in harmony, connecting the past, present, and future of traditional Chinese aesthetics, whilst highlighting the hopeful progress of sustainability and environmental protection.

“That is why I find that my artwork is very meaningful to me, because I am a Chinese artist. But I am now living in Hong Kong in the 21st century. I have to use materials of the times. That is why I reuse material. Because if we don’t have copper wire, we don’t have Wi-Fi, we don’t have lights, we don’t have air con,” she says.

Trees show the four seasons
Yeung enthusiastically points out that different trees are representative of the four seasons. A heavily oxidized golden leaf tree indicates autumn. “This kind of shape is an old Chinese ink painter’s tree, from the Ching dynasty,” says Yeung.

“Then this is the spring tree, you find that all leaves going upwards. Here is the summer – a tree just like fireworks.”

The trees positioned further back in the background are of a shaded blue colour, or bronze copper blue. “This is winter. They become blue because of the humidity; they turn blue naturally. I cannot control this.”

Her devotion to being a sustainable artist means that she seldom uses acrylic colours for her Chinese paintings on rice paper. She will collect rusted iron and then soak this in water and after about a month it becomes a home-made dark brown ink.

“When I mix them with Chinese ink, you will find very amazing effect on the rice paper. I cannot tell you how amazing it is. That is why I am a sustainability artist!”

Other artists now regularly give her their unused wood which she has used for sculptural works. “That is why it is very meaningful to me, because we can do art again and again and again,” she says.
Yeung collaborated with and guided Guo Yin Kam, a student winner of the 2022 UOB Art in Ink Awards to create the Chinese ink art images for the digital interactive wall of the Interwoven: Wired Shanshui through UOB’s mentorship programme. The audience is invited to contemplate the harmony between man, nature and art through interaction with the installation.

This fits in with UOB’s theme at their booth this year which is sustainability from three perspectives: the environment, education, and D&I, meaning diversity and inclusion.
Further to this, the UOB Art Space contains 18 award-winning works from the 2022 UOB Art in Ink Awards, from calligraphy and painting to mixed media works spanning across the categories of Abstract, and Landscape or Figurative painting. Highlighted among the works featured is Melting Glacier by Christine Lee, winner of the 2022 UOB Ink Art of the Year Award. The artwork depicts a polar bear struggling to survive on a shrinking land of ice, aiming to convey the criticality of environmental protection. This is one of six of the artworks that have animation features.